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NARCOTICS AND STIMULANTS 439
with flowering bushes, so that I reasonably hoped
to make a fine collection there. But the first ni^ht
o
of our downward voyage (Jan. 7) the rains came
on, out of their time, and continued daily for many
days, until the river had risen to its winter level,
and the forest-margin was mostly flooded. There
are only two small pueblos on the Casiquiari above
the outlet of Lake Vasiva, and at the lower of these
I halted nine days, hoping the floods might subside.
This pueblo was of only recent formation, and was
peopled by Pacimonari Indians, who had named it
Yamadu-bani, that is, Wild Man's Land, because the
adjacent forests were said to be haunted by the
Yamadu. I explored them as much as the heavy
rains permitted, and never encountered any Yamadu;
but on the very first day I was myself taken for it
by two girls whom I met suddenly at the turning of
a large buttressed tree, on a forest trail, and who
threw down their baskets, laden with manioc, and
fled affrighted. At length the weather seemed to
take up a little, although the river was still high,
and I determined to go on to Vasiva. \Ye accord-
ingly re-embarked early on the 2ist, and eight oars,
aided by a strong current, brought us to the lake at
4 KM. but in vain we coasted ; along to find a bit of
dry land whereon to encamp, for the trees and
bushes were all in water up to 4 or 5 feet so that
;
we had to return to the narrow winding channel
forming the outlet of the lake, where there was a
scanty strip of terra firme and a rancho left by a
party that had gathered turtles' previous year.
eggs there the
Here we remained four days, but
the weather was dreadfully rainy, the sun never
once appeared, and all I could do was to creep